Read this first
The Regents are changing. Most tutoring sites still tell you otherwise.
New York is phasing out the Regents exam as a graduation requirement. Students who entered ninth grade in 2024-25 or earlier are the last cohort who must pass the exams to earn a diploma. Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, a passing Regents score is no longer required to graduate, and a broader set of graduation measures takes its place over the following years.
So should you stop caring? No, and here is the honest reason rather than the sales one.
- Students still sit the exams. Federal rules require exit testing in math, English and science. What changes is that a passing score stops gating the diploma — not that the exam disappears.
- The score lands on the transcript. New York transcripts carry Regents results, and that transcript is what colleges read.
- The exam is the course. A student ready for the Algebra II Regents is a student who actually learned Algebra II. That is the part that carries into next year, whatever the diploma rules say.
Rules and dates are set by the New York State Education Department and they move. Check the official Regents schedules for the dates that apply to your child, rather than any prep site — including this one.
The exams we tutor
Each Regents fails students in its own particular way. What follows is where the points actually go missing, subject by subject.
Mathematics
- Algebra I
- Geometry
- Algebra II
The three math Regents build on each other. A shaky Algebra I is usually why Geometry and Algebra II fall apart two years later, so we check the foundations before drilling the current exam.
Science
- Living Environment
- Earth Science
- Chemistry
- Physics
Science Regents reward students who can read a diagram and explain a process in writing, not just recall facts. Lab requirements are set by the school and have to be satisfied before a student can sit the exam.
Social Studies
- U.S. History & Government
- Global History and Geography II
These are writing exams as much as history exams. Most of the points a student leaves behind are in the document-based and short-essay sections, which are learnable in a way memorising dates is not.
English
- High School English Language Arts
One long exam built on reading comprehension, argument writing and a text-analysis response. Students who write well in class still lose points here, because the rubric is specific and nobody teaches it explicitly.
Three windows a year
Regents exams are administered in January, June and August. Which one your child sits changes how we work: a June exam is a term-long build, an August retake is a three-week repair job.
January
A short winter administration, usually in the second half of the month. Often used for retakes and for students on an accelerated track.
June
The main administration, spread over roughly two weeks in mid-to-late June. This is where most students sit most of their exams.
August
A brief summer window, mainly for retakes after a June result.
How it works
- A diagnostic first, $150. Usually a past exam under real conditions. It tells us whether the problem is content, exam technique or timing — three different problems that look identical on a report card.
- A written plan. Which topics, in which order, against the date of the exam they are actually sitting.
- One-on-one sessions, $125 each. Never in a group. At 928 Broadway in the Flatiron, or fully remote by video.
- Pay per session. No contracts, no packages, no minimum. If it stops being useful, you stop.
Reviews
Don't take our word for it
Genius Prep changed my life! It was all tears doing homework and projects with my 4th-grade daughter. Now I pick her up and she is smiling and skipping home. LOVE this place.
Marne Gabay
April 2022
Outstanding tutoring service. The individualized attention and structured approach made a real difference. Highly recommend to any parent in the NYC area.
Rebecca Taskin
July 2023
The structured approach and individualized attention made all the difference for my son. His confidence in math went from zero to leading his class.
Ann Wool
October 2017
Questions parents actually ask
Do students still have to pass Regents exams to graduate?
It depends on when your child started high school. Students who entered ninth grade in 2024-25 or earlier are the final cohort required to pass the exams to earn a diploma. Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, passing a Regents exam will no longer be a graduation requirement in New York State. The exams themselves continue to be administered.
If they are being phased out, why prepare for them at all?
Three reasons. Students will still sit exit exams under federal rules even once passing is no longer required. The scores go on the New York transcript that colleges read. And the exam content is the course content — a student who is ready for the Living Environment Regents is a student who actually learned biology that year.
When are Regents exams given?
Three times a year: January, June and August. June is the main administration and August is largely for retakes. Exact dates are set by the State Education Department and published on its website — we point families there rather than repeat dates that change.
My child failed a Regents in June. What now?
The August window exists for exactly this. It is a short runway, so the first session is a diagnostic on the actual exam they sat: we find out whether the gap was content, exam technique, or timing, because those three need completely different work.
Do you tutor Regents subjects we do not see listed?
Ask. The list on this page covers the exams we work on most often. New York also administers Regents exams in several world languages, and school-level requirements vary.
How much does it cost?
Regents tutoring is $125 per session, and every student starts with a $150 diagnostic. You pay per session — no contracts, no packages, no minimum number of hours.
Also preparing for an admissions test? See SHSAT prep for the specialized high schools, ISEE & SSAT prep for independent schools, or digital SAT prep and ACT prep for college.
Take the next step
Which Regents is your child sitting?
Tell us the subject and the exam date. We start with a diagnostic so the plan fits the gap, not the calendar.